luxury
Luxury may refer to:
*Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises
*Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars
**Luxury tax (sports), surcharge put ...
brand specializing in
swimwear
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types may be worn by men, wom ...
and ready-to-wear for men and women.Official website ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'', Volume 77, 2001, p. 1 /ref>
Suzy Gershman Suzy Gershman (April 13, 1948 – July 25, 2012) was an American writer who authored sixteen "Born to Shop" guidebooks over the course of twenty-six years, beginning in 1986. Her travel guides, which cover the shopping scenes in counties and cities, ...
, ''Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop Italy: The Ultimate Guide for Travelers Who Love to Shop'', John Wiley & Sons, 2010, p. 29 /ref>Suzy Gershman, ''Suzy Gershman's Born to Shop New York: The Ultimate Guide for People Who Love to Shop'', Frommer's, 2008, p. 21 /ref> The brand was created in 1971 in
Saint Tropez
, INSEE = 83119
, postal code = 83990
, image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg
, image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg
Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence-Al ...
by Fred Prysquel, a photographer and sports automobile journalist and Yvette, a fashion designer. One interesting fact is Fred is colorblind and Yvette picks out all the colors. Adam Fox, 'Vilebrequin swimwear', on
AskMen.com
AskMen is a free online men's web portal, with international versions in Australia, Canada, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and the United States. It is owned by Ziff Davis and operates through the IGN Entertainment unit.
History
AskMen was ...
br> /ref> The brand has stores in Saint-Tropez,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
,
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
,
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
,
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Washington DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, among others.Vilebrequin Official website store location It was due to Prysquel's passion for automobiles that he named his brand, Vilebrequin, the French word for "
crankshaft
A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...
".
History
In 1971, Fred Prysquel, photographer and automobile
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
, sketched and cut out a swimsuit design from a paper tablecloth in a Saint Tropezian café. Inspired by the swimsuits of surfers at the time, he created a longer
boxer short
Boxer shorts (also known as loose boxers or as simply boxers) are a type of undergarment typically worn by men.
The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhinde ...
style much different than the shorter and fitted swimsuits of that period. Designed from
spinnaker
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...
cloth, his l swimsuit was bright, original and designed to dry quickly in the sun.
In 1991, fellow Tropezian and textile worker, Loïc Berthet, took over the brand and added new styles and models. To men's swim trunks, he added a back pocket secured with Velcro, eyelet holes made from a stainless alloy,
Zamac
ZAMAK (or Zamac, formerly trademarked as MAZAK) is a family of alloys with a base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper.
Zamak alloys are part of the zinc aluminum, zinc aluminium alloy family; they are distingu ...
, and a cotton lining.
In 1994, Vilebrequin expanded its collection to include boys' garments.
Between 1990 and 2000, the brand expanded worldwide and opened locations in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Alassio
Alassio ( lij, Arasce) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Savona situated in the western coast of Liguria, Northern Italy, approximately from the French border.
Alassio is known for its natural and scenic views. The town centre is cro ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. The brand also developed a network of distribution partners in over 50 countries.
In 2012, Vilebrequin was acquired by the American company
G-III Apparel Group
G-III Apparel Group is an American clothing company which designs, manufactures, and markets women's and men's apparel in the United States and internationally through a portfolio of highly recognizable proprietary and licensed brand names, inclu ...
, Ltd., which also licenses
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...
,
DKNY
DKNY is a New York City–based fashion house for men and women, founded in 1984 by Donna Karan.
History
Karan worked for 15 years at Anne Klein, including 10 as its head designer. In 1984 Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss were offered t ...
, and
Karl Lagerfeld Paris Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austria ...
. Roland Herlory, prior general director for
Hermès
Hermès International S.A., or simply Hermès ( , ), is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its logo, since ...
Latin America and Caribbean, became the new CEO.
In 2013, after more than 40 years in menswear, Vilebrequin launched their first ladies' line and extended their product offering to also include resort wear as well as luxury beach accessories for both men and women.
In 2014, Vilebrequin opened stores with a particular focus on expansion throughout Asia with openings in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
In 2013, the brand released a men's collector swimsuit embroidered in gold thread with solely 20 models available. In 2014, the model was replicated and
sapphire
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphir ...
elements were added.
In 2020, the brand collaborated with American artist
Derrick Adams
Derrick Adams (born 1970) is an American visual and performance artist and curator. Much of Adams' work is centered around his Black identity, frequently referencing patterns, images, and themes of African-American culture, Black culture in Amer ...
to create a capsule collection of swim shorts, inspired by Adams’ ‘Floaters’ series.
Distribution
As of 2014, Vilebrequin is present across 5 continents and in 52 countries with more than 150 stores. The brand has e-shops in Europe and the United States.
References
Rod Hagwood, 'NHL and NFL players model Vilebrequin swimwear at Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach', in ''
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding Br ...